FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TALIBAN LEADERS - PAGE 3

PAKISTAN: The Pakistani Taliban chose the ruthless commander who planned the attack on teenage activist Malala Yousafzai as the militant group's new leader Thursday, and it ruled out holding peace talks with the government. Mullah Fazlullah was unanimously appointed the new chief by the Taliban's leadership council, or shura, after several days of deliberation, said the head of the shura, Asmatullah Shaheen Bhitani. Militants fired AK-47 assault rifles and anti-aircraft guns into the air to celebrate.

KABUL: The Afghan government is investigating reports of the death of Taliban supremo Mullah Omar, a presidential spokesman said Wednesday, amid frenzied speculation about the rumoured demise of the reclusive warrior-cleric. The insurgents have not officially confirmed the death of Mullah Omar, who has not been seen publicly since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban government in Kabul. His ill-health and even death have regularly been rumoured in the past.

Here is a list of major events in the life of reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar: 1962: Omar is born in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan. He spends much of his early life in the village of Singhesar in neighboring Kandahar province. 1979: Omar joins rebels fighting against troops of the former Soviet Union , who had occupied the country to support a leftist government in Kabul. 1989: Omar reportedly loses his right eye to shrapnel fighting Soviet troops outside of the city of Kandahar.

KABUL: Taliban supremo Mullah Omar died two years ago in Pakistan, Afghanistan's intelligence agency said Wednesday, after unnamed government and militant sources reported the demise of the reclusive warrior-cleric. The insurgents have not officially confirmed the death of the supreme leader of the Taliban, who has not been seen publicly since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban government in Kabul. Rumours of Omar's ill-health and even death have regularly surfaced in the past, but the latest claims -- just two days before peace talks with the insurgents -- mark the first such confirmation from the Afghan government.

WASHINGTON: The US intelligence community assesses that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar is now dead, although the circumstances of his death is not yet clear, the White House has said. "The US Intelligence Community assesses that Mullah Mohammed Omar, the former leader of the Afghan Taliban, is dead," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. Earlier this week, Taliban confirmed the death of Omar in a statement, without saying when and where he died. "While the exact circumstances of his death remain uncertain, it is clear that his demise, after decades of war and thousands of lives lost, represents a chance for yet more progress on the path to a stable, secure Afghanistan," he said in a statement last night.

WASHINGTON: The White House said on Friday the US intelligence community has confirmed the death of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar , but the circumstances of his death remain uncertain. The White House said in a statement that his death "represents a chance for yet more progress on the path to a stable, secure Afghanistan. " Afghanistan said on Wednesday that Omar, the elusive leader of the Taliban movement fighting to topple the government, died more than two years ago. He had not been seen in public since fleeing when the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001 after s US-led invasion.

KABUL: Here are some questions and answers about Mullah Mohammed Omar: WHO IS MULLAH OMAR? Mullah Mohammad Omar led the Taliban as its supreme leader during its rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. He has not been seen in public since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and is regularly rumored to have died. He remains the head of the Afghan Taliban movement. WHY IS HE IMPORTANT? Omar is a figurehead for the Taliban, and as such has enabled it to present a united front in informal contacts and formal talks with Afghan government representatives aimed at ending the war there, now almost 14 years old. WHERE HAS HE BEEN?

By Brahma Chellaney The image of then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh - after having just chaperoned three terrorists to freedom - walking hand-in-hand with the Taliban regime's foreign minister, Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil, on the runway at Kandahar Airport in late 1999 still haunts. Now, FM P Chidambaram has greeted Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef in Goa. Spanish-born US philosopher George Santayana's warning is particularly true for India: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. " India's ad hoc, personality-driven diplomacy has stood out since independence for not learning from mistakes and continuing to display naivete.

KABUL: New Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour called for unity in the movement Saturday in his first audio message since becoming head of the group that faces deepening splits following the death of longtime chief Mullah Omar. Barely a few hours after Mansour's appointment was announced Friday, powerful rivals within the fractious Taliban questioned the selection process, saying it was rushed and even biased. Mansour's comments are apparently aimed at fending off the emerging risk of the group splintering into factions at a time when there is growing discord over the direction of peace talks with the Afghan government.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan held the key to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's ability to use Afghanistan as a base to revive his plans to attack the US after he could no longer stay in Sudan, the panel investigating the September 11, '01 attacks said in its final report. It is unlikely that bin Laden could have returned to Afghanistan had Pakistan disapproved, said the report made public yesterday. "The Pakistani military intelligence service probably had advance knowledge of his coming, and its officers may have facilitated his travel," the report said.